Finding Your Own Pace as an Artist and Sculpting a Turtle

I’ve been thinking a lot about the relationship between art and time… particularly the idea of pace.

Have you ever casually popped onto Instagram and been confronted with people more talented? More popular? Or more successful? (he says clearly knowing that everyone has). If so, you may have started to wonder about your pace and the chances of catching up. Let’s talk about that. 

So I made a turtle the other day and I thought I’d share that timelapse with you while I reflect on finding your own pace.

Thinking about a turtle often draws me into Aesop's Fable of the tortoise and the hare.

As I remember it, the fast braggy rabbit is challenged by a slow thoughtful tortoise only for the rabbit to be rightfully bragging but also lazy and for far too relatable very nap-focused reasons. It’s something of a humorous tale. It strikes as bizarre and aims to challenge the relationship between natural talent and persistent effort. And while I suspect there is a whole lot we could reflect on there when I started thinking about this turtle I was making this story, and the idea of pace I came across an intriguing origin to this tale.

Before I get too deeply into that I want to take a moment and think about my pace. I often find myself looking up, bringing my head above the creative waters, into the open air of Instagrams and Etsy shops. The hashtags show me, other artists, making more impressive things with greater followings and by account more success than me. And it’s in these moments that I get caught up in the inevitable vacuum that is the gap between them and I. It’s a cruel gap that doesn’t allow for much good. Folks are better, more successful, more popular, and in every way possible it is inevitable that I will find countless speedier hares on my journey as a lowly tortoise. And sometimes I can only wish that they would nap. 

And it’s here that the absurdity of the story of the tortoise and the hare is critical to point out. The story is very similar to the philosophical problem of Achilles and the Tortoise established by Zeno of Elea. The problem is put forward as such: the Achilles in his kindness offers the tortoise the chance at a head start in a race. And so the Tortoise begins to move and in the vacuum of philosophical thought Achilles can never catch up. The essential argument is that the tortoise will always be moving and Achilles will always be catching up and while Achilles can catch up to where the tortoise was… the tortoise still moving is still ahead. Resulting in an endless pattern of following behind the tortoise and always catching where it was not where it is. 

And here’s the thing: in some races, people have a head start. 

To me, this is the way I’ve learned to approach my pace and the comparison to others. There will always be people ahead of me. There will always be gaps between where I am and where they are. There may even be times when I feel like I’ve been lapped or surpassed in ways I couldn’t have thought. 

And this is the danger of comparison in the world of art or just the world in general. The rules are different for everyone. The context, the moment, and the factors do not exist in stasis. So when you begin and things go well or you work hard and things don’t quite take off or when you look around and feel left behind or out of pace with the world around you. I can tell you the reasons are complicated and they aren’t always in your control.

So allow me to suggest something: your pace is sufficient. It may be slow. It may be slower than you want ( I think we all feel that). But you cannot move faster than your pace. It’s ok to acknowledge that you move in your way, at your own speed, in your own time. It’s ok to take a few extra hours to study, it’s ok to work a few days more on a project, it's okay to give yourself a break and realize that your best is the best. 

And that is best. Whatever it may be. Is truly wonderful. Let that sink in: your contribution is wonderful. 

So the next time you find yourself caught in the comparison game and worrying about your pace: remember the tortoise not because the hare napped but because in some races people have a head start.